NHL 2013-2014 Conference Previews – Atlantic – Ottawa Senators

Alfredsson exits the Senators; fear not, enter Bobby Ryan. Although they gave up youngster Jakub Silfverberg and a 1st, this is quite a good deal for Ottawa. Stuck in Perry’s shadow may leave the casual hockey fan with little knowledge on this new Senator, but as Brian Murray said, “we believe we have an elite scorer in Bobby and we don’t think he’s reached his potential” further proof is in the pudding when it comes to Ryan who in 6 years, has scored 30 goals 4 times, failing in his rookie year and in the lockout shortened year. One can only assume he’ll play alongside Spezza on the top line, and assuming additional ice-time, Ryan could very well score 40. Joe Corvo makes his return to the Senators who lost Sergei Gonchar (DAL) on their blue line. Although Corvo provides some offensive ability it’s clear the load is going to be carried by young Karlsson who will attempt to take back his Norris trophy (2012) from 2013-winner Montreal’s PK Subban. Over and above Corvo and Karlsson, Ottawa was pleasantly surprised by the play of Patrick Wiercioch who was called up to the big club last year from Binghamton.

Down the pipeline Kyle Turris has been a welcome addition to the Senators as a second line C. Should he get the chance to play with Mika Zibanejad, who many Sens’ fans expect to be a big piece of the Sens’ future, it’s not unreasonable to believe he’ll be a PPG player: he can very well put up 50 pts in a healthy 82-game season as a 20 year old.

In nets the Senators have 2 more than capable goalies. While Craig Anderson is the consensus number 1 that does not mean any less for backup prospect Robin Lehner who was stellar last season when Andersen went down with an injury. Lehner kept the Senators in the playoff race all season long. Any coach will tell you they are more than thrilled to have 2 capable backstops between the pipes

Finally one can’t ignore the tremendous coaching job that Paul Maclean has done with the Sens during his short tenure, already taking home some hardware in the form of the Jack Adams trophy. Even when they were supposed to falter last season with injuries to all of their core players, Maclean kept the ship on the right course. The entire roster came together, played system hockey to a tee making sure they saw the means and ends all the way, and did some damage making it to the second round of the playoffs.

Coach K is the producer of the Montreal Hockey Talk pre and post game shows, to which he is a regular contributor. His 15 years of coaching experience, along with his passion for the game, give him a unique perspective.
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